WASHINGTON, DC – D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced legislation last week to provide the homeless with protection under District hate-crime laws.
“By passing this bill, the District of Columbia would join other jurisdictions such as Maine, Alaska and Seattle in working to help further protect some of the District’s most vulnerable residents,” Cheh said in introducing the bill. “Being classified as a hate crime potentially enhances the penalties for acts against homeless persons and in addition adds civic causes of action in specific circumstances.”
The “Homelessness Bias-Related Crime Amendment Act of 2009” would modify the “Bias-Related Crime Act of 1989” to increase fines and jail time by up to 50 percent for attacks against homeless people. Cheh’s legislation follows the May 7 signing by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley of a similar bill, which made his state the first to officially extend hate-crime laws to the homeless.
The D.C. Department of Human Services estimated last year that of the District’s 6,228 homeless residents more than 30 percent have been attacked. Nationwide, more than 774 attacks against the homeless, more than 200 of which resulted in death, were documented from 1999 to 2007, according to Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
“Attacks against the homeless continue to be a problem,” Stoops said. “There has been an increase not only in Washington D.C. but also nationwide.”
Cheh, councilmember for Ward 3, noted three incidents in introducing her amendment: A homeless resident was repeatedly struck in the head while sleeping in McPherson Square last October; a month later, another homeless person was attacked while sleeping on the 2100 block of K Street NW; and on Christmas Eve, 61-year-old Yoshio Nakada was killed after being struck in the head while sleeping across from the Watergate complex. The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless has collected reports of homeless persons being beaten with pipes, spit upon, pelted with projectiles and kicked by passers-by, Cheh said.
“We strongly support the legislation and adding attacks on homeless persons as a hate crime,” said Michael Ferrell, executive director of the D.C. Coalition for the Homeless. “Typically the victims were asleep and were attacked – it was completely unprovoked, unwarranted and unjustified.”
In addition, separate anti-crime legislation sponsored by Councilmember Phil Mendelson includes a provision for extending hate-crime protections to homeless people. That bill will be voted on later this month. Still, Stoops said, Cheh’s bill represents a significant step forward in the struggle to assure the security of men and women sleeping on the streets or in shelters.
“By introducing a stand-alone bill, it lets members of the city council know that there’s broad-based support for its passage,” he said. “It’s a historic moment and D.C. could become the second jurisdiction in the country to add the homeless to its hate-crime statute.”
Cheh’s amendment moves next to the council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, chaired by Mendelson. The timetable for passage or implementation of the legislation remains uncertain.
